Dynalya
The wooden ball hardly weighed anything. It was small and inconsequential, yet it was the biggest obstacle in Dyna’s way. She concentrated on the green mist in her palm, cradling the ball. She tried to visualize its energy, to give it form and substance.
Move!
The ball lifted a mere inch into the air. She willed it to go higher, but it stayed right where it was.
“Push the energy outward,” Lucenna instructed beside her.
“I am,” Dyna said, not able to hide the frustration that seeped into her tone.
Lord Norrlen sat on a fallen log by the campfire, working on carving arrow shafts. Beside him, Cassiel sharpened knives on a whetstone. She could feel them watching in the distance, and her face warmed under the audience. Zev had wandered off somewhere when she’d made no more progress.
How could she convince him of her capabilities if she couldn’t even do this? She’d been training since yesterday morning and hadn’t made it go any higher.
“You’re not concentrating,” Lucenna chided. “If you were, you would have levitated the ball.”
Groaning, Dyna released her Essence and dropped her arm. “I don’t think I can do it.”
“No, the matter is you’renotdoing it.” Lucenna took the ball, and it floated freely above her palm. “Listen to your instincts. Focus on your power and direct it. That is the first lesson they make the children of Magos learn. It’s vital. For without it, your magic will go nowhere. Levitation is the first spell they are taught because it’s the easiest and the most flexible.” She flicked her fingers, and the ball arched over her head into her other palm, hovering above it. “The Guilds possess certain spells that pertain solely to them, but levitation is a simple spell that is wielded by all classes. With it, you can carry, push, throw, or lift.”
The wooden ball shot from her hand and bounced off a tree. Then it flew back into her hand.
“Is that how you broke the boy’s bones?” Dyna asked, thinking of Geon.
With a twirl of her finger, Lucenna had tossed him about and snapped his limbs.
Lucenna paused. “That is a more complicated spell. Levitation can be used to attack either by moving your opponent or moving an object against them.” She waved her hand, and a large boulder crashed across the meadow. Fair, who’d been grazing nearby, galloped away with a startled neigh. “The force behind it is related to the strength of your Essence. The greater it is, the heavier the objects you can move.”
Dyna couldn’t imagine lifting something that big. She could barely lift the ball. Maybe this was beyond her. She may not be able to do more than heal.
Lucenna crossed her arms. “Why are you here?”
Dyna blinked, surprised by the question. “What?”
“You’re a sorceress. Why did you leave the safety of your village?”
“But I’m not a—”
“You knew it would be dangerous, and yet, something required you to leave.” Lucenna glanced past her. “Though, you need not tell me the reason. I have a feeling they don’t want you to.”
Dyna glanced at the others to find them watching her warily. Cassiel’s stare bore into her, and a feeling of warning passed through the bond. She could almost hear his voice in her mind.Do not dare tell her.
It made her want to tell Lucenna about Mount Ida and the map to spite him.
“I want you to remember why you’re on this journey,” Lucenna continued. “Lock it in your mind, write it down, or repeat it to yourself every morning, if you must. That is your weapon. Your motivation.” She tossed her the ball. “Now go practice. As soon as you can levitate the ball, I’ll teach you how to levitate people.”
“People?” Dyna repeated, widening her eyes.
“That is our goal,” Lucenna said as she headed for the camp. “You will need to learn that so we can get the scales.”
“Wait, where are you going?”
“I have taught you what you need to know. Now apply it.”
“I can’t do it alone.”
The sorceress turned and fixed her with glowing lilac eyes. “Learn to stand on your own feet. There will come a day where you will be alone, and you will have no one to count on but yourself.”
